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Douglas Messerli
|birth_place = Waterloo, Iowa, United States |death_date = |death_place = |body_discovered = |death_cause = |resting_place = |resting_place_coordinates = |residence = |nationality = |ethnicity = |citizenship = United States |other_names = |known_for = founding Green Integer and Sun & Moon presses |education = |alma_mater = |employer = |occupation = Poet, Professor, Publisher |years_active = 1976–present |home_town = |salary = |networth = |height = |weight = |title = Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) |term = |predecessor = |successor = |party = |opponents = |boards = |religion = |spouse = |partner = |children = |parents = |relations = |callsign = |signature = |website = |footnotes = |box_width = }} Douglas Messerli (born May 30, 1947) is an American poet, academic, and publisher. Life Overview Based in Los Angeles, California, Messerli started Sun & Moon, a magazine of art and literature, which became Sun & Moon Press, and later Green Integer Press. He has taught at Temple University in Philadelphia, and Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Youth and education Messerli grew up in a very ordinary American home. His father, a former coach, was the superintendent of the public schools, and his mother, a former schoolteacher, was a home-bound housewife. Messerli’s brother later became a football coach and teacher, and his sister works for the Iowa State Department of Education. Within this seemingly normal home life, Messerli developed at a young age a passion for theater, reading American and European figures such as Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, and Jean Genet. At 16 he traveled to Norway for a year, attending school there. On his return to the United States, he attended the University of Wisconsin. He dropped out after his junior year to live for a period in New York City, during which time he studied dance at the Joffrey Ballet Company and worked as Assistant to Protocol at Columbia University. In 1969 he returned to Wisconsin, where he met his lifelong companion, Howard Fox, at the 1st gay liberation meeting on campus. Together they moved to Washington, D.C. in 1970. For a while, Messerli worked as a librarian at American University, but ultimately returned to university, to earn his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Maryland. Career Messerli concentrated on fiction until he met critic and teacher Marjorie Perloff, whose influence shifted his interests to poetry. In 1975 he and Fox began a journal of literature and art, Sun & Moon, which focused on contemporary and experimental writing and art. In the late 1970s Messerli began to publish books under the Sun & Moon name by major literary figures such as David Antin, Charles Bernstein, Paul Auster, Steve Katz, Russell Banks, and Djuna Barnes. He also began writing poetry himself, and in 1979 published Dinner on the Lawn (revised in 1982). Some Distance and River to Rivet: A manifesto followed, making up a trilogy of books of and about poetry and poetics. In the early 1980s Messerli became a professor of literature at Temple University in Philadelphia. Commuting between Washington and Philadelphia, he continued to write, working on a new book of poetry, Maxims from My Mother’s Milk/Hymns to Him, and a series of 3 books of combined poetry/fiction/performance collectively titled The Structure of Destruction, the last volume of which, Letters from Hanusse, was published under the pseudonym of Joshua Haigh. Meanwhile, Messerli returned to his 1st love, writing shorter and longer plays, including Silence All Round Marked: An Historical Play in Hysteria Writ (published under his own name), The Confirmation, and A Dog Tries to Kiss the Sky: Six Short Plays (the latter two books published under his pseudonym, Kier Peters). The title play of this volume was performed in Brazil, and another play from this book, The Sorry Play, was written in São Paulo. In 1985 Messerli left his tenure-track professorship to edit Sun & Moon Press full-time. The same year Fox was named Curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the 2 of them moved to Los Angeles, where they continue to live today. Through the next 18 years, Messerli continued to edit Sun & Moon Press and his later imprint, Green Integer, as well as writing poetry, fiction, drama and other works. He also edited From the Other Side of the Century: A new American poetry, 1960-1990 and, with dramatist Mac Wellman, From the Other Side of the Century II: A new American drama, 1960-1995. In 2000 he began the ongoing international poetry series, the Project for Innovative Poetry Anthologies of World Poetry, for which he projects at least 50 volumes of international writing. Later he began a similar series for fiction, 1001 Great Stories. More recently, Messerli has focused on his 6 on-line sites that explore poetry, fiction, cinema, American cultural treasures, drama, and general cultural experiences. His book Reading Films: My international cinema was published in 2012.The PIP Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century -- Volume 5 -- Intersections: Innovative poetry in Southern California. Green Integer, 2005, p. 196. Writing Over the years Messerli’s poetry has transformed from a poetry centered in comedy and wit to a highly lyrical and seemingly romantically-inspired writing. But its subjects — the difficulty of communicating and the isolation of each human being — have remained the same. It has also become increasingly apparent that Messerli’s work centers on a dialogue between or interchange with the community at large and the many aspects of self. He uses several pseudonyms and personas to explore, through various forms of writing, the multitude of selves within any individual. Messerli has used similar strategies in his larger writing project with others. In Between, for example, he wrote “through” the works of poet friends, sending the results to these friends and asking them, in turn, to respond to his work. Bow Down is a book of poetry (published in both Italian and English) in which the author wrote through the writings of various contemporary Italian poets while — in several of the poems — also attending to images of art by noted Los Angeles artist John Baldessari. And in numerous works, Messerli’s counter-ego, Claude Ricochet — through his imaginary critical writings, films, and essays — is quoted extensively. More recently, Messerli has begun a long series of encounters with cultural events — fiction, poetry, film, dance, music, art, and personal experiences — of each year, which he projects as a series of autobiographical volumes each titled My Year. Recognition In 2002-2003 Messerli was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance. He has received numerous other awards, including the American Book Award and the ALTA Award for Dedication to Translation for his publishing. In 2004 he was named Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Awards * 2003: Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) * 1998: American Book Award for Publishing * 1994: The Harry Ford Editing Award * 1987: Carey-Thomas Award for Creative Publishing Publications Poetry *''Dinner on the Lawn''. College Park, MD: Sun & Moon, 1982. *''Some Distance''. New York: Segue Books, 1982. *''River to Rivet: A manifesto''. Washington, DC: Sun & Moon, 1985. *''River to Rivet: A poetic trilogy'' (slipcase collection of above 3 volumes). Washington, DC: Sun & Moon, 1985.Douglas Messerli, Electronic Poetry Center. Web, Apr. 5, 2015. *''Maxims from My Mother's Milk / Hymns to Him: A Dialogue''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1988. *''After''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1998. *''Bow Down'' (illustrated by John Baldessari). Castelvetro, Italy: ML & NLF, 2002. *''First Words''. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2004. *''Dark''. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2012. Plays *''Silence All Round Marked: An historical play in hysteria writ''. Los Angeles: Corner Books / Blue Corner Drama, 1992. *''The Confirmation'' (as "Kier Peters"). Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1993. *''At the Roots of the Stars: The short plays''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1995. *''A Dog Tries to Kiss the Sky: Six short plays'' (as Kier Peters). Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 2004. Fiction * 2000: Letters from Hanusse: Part III of The structure of destruction (as "Joshua Haigh"). Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2000. Non-Fiction *''Djuna Barnes: A bibliography'' (with essay on Barnes). Rhinebeck, NY: D. Lewis, 1976. *''Index to Periodical Fiction in English, 1965-1969'' (with Howard N. Fox). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1977. *Commentary & foreword to Djuna Barnes, Interviews. Washington, DC: Sun & Moon, 1985. *''My Year 2005: Terrifying times: Readings, events, memories''. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2007. *''My Year 2004: Under our skin: Readings, events, memories''. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2008. *''My Year 2006: Serving: Readings, events, memories''. Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2009. *''Reading Films: My international cinema''. Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2012. Collected editions *''Along Without: A fiction in film for poetry: Part I of The structure of destruction'' (fiction / film / poetry). Los Angeles: Littoral Books, 1993. *''The Walls Come True: An opera for spoken voice: Part II of The structure of destruction'' (fiction / drama / poetry). Los Angeles: Littoral Books, 1995. Edited *Djuna Barnes, Smoke, and other early stories (edited & introduction). College Park, MD: Sun & Moon, 1982. *''Contemporary American Fiction'' (edited & introduction). Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1983. *''"Language" Poetries: An anthology''. New York: New Directions, 1987. *''From the Other Side of the Century: A new American poetry, 1960-1990''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1994. *''The Sun & Moon Guide to Eating through Literature and Art''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1994. *''50: A celebration of Sun & Moon classics''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1995. *''The Gertrude Stein Awards in Innovative American Poetry 1993-1994''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1995. *''The Gertrude Stein Awards in Innovative American Poetry 1994-1995''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1996. *''From the Other Side of the Century, II: A new American drama, 1960-1995'' (edited with Mac Wellman). Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1998. *''Listen to the Mockingbird: American folksongs and popular music lyrics of the 19th century''. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2005. *''1001 Great Stories, Volume I''. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2005. *''1001 Great Stories, Volume II''. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2006. PIP Anthologies *''The PIP Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century''. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2000- **''Volume I''. 2000. **''Volume II''. 2001. **''Volume III''. 2003. **''Volume IV''. 2003. **''Volume V: Intersections: Innovative poetry in Southern California''. 2005. **''Volume VI: Living Space: Poems of the Dutch fiftiers''. 2005. **''Volume VII: Volume 7, At Villa Aurora: Nine contemporary poets writing in German''. 2006. **''Volume VIII: In Transit: Sixteen contemporary Danish poets''. 2015. *''PIP Gertrude Stein Awards in Innovative Poetry in English''. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2007. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Douglas Messerli, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 4, 2015. Audio / video *''Still in Love'' (opera; libretto by "Keir Peters", music by Michael Kowalski; CD). Equilibrium, 1997. See also *List of U.S. poets *List of American book publishers References External links ;Poems *Douglas Messerli at the PIP (Project for Innovative Poetry) Blog: Profile & poem, "The Secret Saint" *Douglas Messerli @ EPC (Electronic Poetry Center) ;Prose *Douglas Messerli at HyperAllergic ;Audio / video *Douglas Messerli by Charles Bernstein *Douglas Messerli at PennSound ;Books *Douglas Messerli at Amazon.com ;About * Douglas Messerli in conversation with Charles Bernstein, Jacket ;Etc. * Green Integer website Category:American poets Category:American dramatists and playwrights Category:American publishers (people) Category:People from Waterloo, Iowa Category:Writers from Iowa Category:Living people Category:1947 births Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:American academics Category:American magazine editors Category:Poets